OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:03 PM – Thursday, February 12, 2026
The City of Evanston is reportedly moving forward with the next phase of its “restorative justice” initiative. This week, the City’s Reparations Committee announced that 44 additional Black residents have been cleared to receive $25,000 grants, totaling a $1.1 million disbursement aimed at addressing “historical housing discrimination.”
According to reports, approximately $6.35 million has already been awarded to 254 individuals.
Robin Rue Simmons, the former 5th Ward Alderman who previously served from 2017–2021, first introduced the measure that established Evanston’s reparations program. Simmons spearheaded and introduced the initiative in 2019, starting with a reparations plan presented to the local Equity and Empowerment Commission early that year.
This led to Resolution 126-R-19, “Establishing the City of Evanston Reparations Fund and the Reparations Subcommittee,” which she co-sponsored and put forward alongside Aldermen Ann Rainey of the 8th Ward and Peter Braithwaite of the 2nd Ward.
The City Council then adopted it on November 25, 2019, by an 8-1 vote, committing the first $10 million from the city’s cannabis sales tax, 3% on gross sales, to fund local reparations — focusing on “housing discrimination” and “wealth gaps” for Black residents.
The program, which made Evanston the first U.S. city to implement a tax-funded reparations path for Black residents, continues to prioritize “Ancestors” — which they described as residents who lived in the city as adults between the years 1919 and 1969, in addition to their direct descendants.
The Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program was designed to provide $25,000 to eligible Black residents for home repairs, down payments, or mortgage assistance.
However, last year, the City Council expanded the program’s flexibility. While the funds were originally restricted to only housing-related costs, recipients can now opt for direct cash payments. This change was implemented to better serve elderly residents who may no longer own homes or who require the funds for immediate quality-of-life needs, officials added.
Details of the current disbursement include:
- Grant amount: $25,000 per individual.
- Total allocation: $1.1 million for this specific cohort.
- Funding source: Revenue generated from the city’s 3% tax on recreational marijuana sales and a portion of the real estate transfer tax.
The 44 residents selected in this round belong primarily to the “Ancestor” category. To qualify, applicants must demonstrate that they suffered from discriminatory housing practices due to city ordinances, policies, or practices in effect during the mid-20th century.
While Evanston’s model is frequently hailed by far-left civil rights advocates as a pioneering “national blueprint” for municipal restorative justice, the path to implementation has, unsurprisingly, faced complex legal hurdles.
The program currently finds itself at the center of a high-stakes legal battle.
A lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative activist organization, argues that the program’s race-based eligibility requirements openly violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
In the ongoing federal lawsuit Flinn v. City of Evanston, Judicial Watch argues that the city’s reparations program is a “brazen violation” of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause since it distributes public benefits based on racial classifications. Representing six non-Black plaintiffs, who meet the program’s residency and lineage requirements but were excluded due to their race, the group contends that Evanston is unconstitutionally using race as a “proxy” for having experienced housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969.
They argue that the policy is not “narrowly tailored” to achieve a compelling government interest, as it is over-inclusive — paying individuals who may not have personally suffered from city-sponsored discrimination — while failing to consider race-neutral alternatives, such as basing eligibility solely on documented housing harms.
Ultimately, Judicial Watch seeks a permanent injunction against the race-based requirements and $25,000 in damages for each plaintiff, asserting that the government cannot legally “redistribute tax dollars” based on what they describe as generalized historical grievances.
Nonetheless, despite the looming threat, Evanston city officials and the Reparations Committee have remained resolute.
Rather than pausing disbursements, the city has doubled down on its commitment, claiming that the grants are not “race-based” in a vacuum, but are instead a direct remedy for “documented, localized harm” caused by specific city-sanctioned housing discrimination. By continuing the rollout amidst this litigation, Evanston is seemingly testing the legal durability of municipal reparations in real-time.
To date, Evanston has committed to a $10 million goal over ten years. With this latest round of 44 residents, the city inches closer to clearing its initial list of prioritized applicants.
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